Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1887-02-28

| But nv text suggests sOmethlng In advance
OF anything | nave said. We must all quit
| this life. However sound our health may be,
| 1t must break down; however good our title
may be TO houses, lanh and estates, we must
| surrender them. We viii hear voice
bidding us away from all these places. We
| will have To start on pilgrimage from which
\ we can never come back. We will have seen
| for the last time the evening star, and
| watched the last summer cloud, and felt the
breath OF the spring wind for the last time.
| Hands of loved ones may be stretched out to
| hold us back, but they cannot-go we must.
| About all other exits and changes we may
| trihe, but not about this. Stupendous moment
| of lfe-quittIng. o, when the great tides of
eternity arise about us, and I'LL the soul and
| surround 1t, and sweep it out toward rapture
| or woe. ah, that will be ''the swelling of
| Jordanw l know people talk sometimes very
| merrlly about the departure from this llIe. l
| am sorry to hear it. But men do make fun
| or the passage from one world to another
| Byron toked great deal about 1t, but when
| IL came he shvered with horror. Many an
| infdel has scoffed at the idea of fearing
| future world, but living upon his pillow in
| the last hour his teeth have chartered with
| terror. / saw, in Westminster Abbey. an
| epitaph which poet orLered to be put upon
| his tomb:
| Life is Jest,
| And all things show it;
| thought so once,
| But now know It,"
| thought how inapt that, in place OF
| sepulchre, men should try their wittlcjsms.
| A great German having rejected Christ, IN his
| last moment, said: GIVE me light, give me
| nght! On, we may be smart with our Witt =
| cIsm about the last hour; but when it comes
| and the tides are rising, and the aurf Is beat
| ing, and the winds are bowling. we will each
| one, my brethren, find for himself. that 1t is
''the swelling OF Jordanr Our natural,
| courage won't hold out then. However
| familiar we may have been with the scenes
| of mortality, however much we may have
screwed our courage up, we want so;nethlng
| more than natural resources. When the
| Northeast wind blows on from the Sc
| Of death. it will put out NIL earthly lights.
| The lamp OF the gospel, God lighted, is the
| only lamp that can stand ID that blast. The
| weakest arm holding that shall not be con
| founded, the strongest one rejecting tnat shall
| stumble and die. When the Jordan rises in
i,s wrath, the first dash of its wave will
| swamp them foreverS We feel how sad it il
| for man TO attempt this life without reli-
| glon. We see what doleful thing it is for a
| man TO go down into the misiortunes of life
without Christian soace; but II that be 80,
| how much more terrible when that man
comes face to face with the solemnitIes OF the
| last hour. Oh, If in the bright sunshine OF
| health and rosperity 4 man felt the need OF
something better. now will he feel when the
| shadows Of the last hour gather above his pill
! lowr III. IN the warmth OF worldly prOsperi
| ", he was sometimes dlsmayed, how Will he
| feel when the last chill creeps over him2 If
| while things were comparatively smooth he
| was disquleted, what viii he do In the agonies
| of dissolutlonY ''lf, in the land of peace in
| which he trusted, they wearied him, what
| will he do amid the swelling OF Jordan?"
Oh. rejoice to know THAI 50 many of Gods
| children have gone through that pass without
| Il shudder! Some one SAID to q dying
| Christian: Isn't 1t hard for ou to get out OF
| this world?" Oh. mol" he says, ut Is easy
! dying, it is blessed dying, IL Is glorious
| dying;" and then he pointed TO a CLOCK on the
| wall. and he SAID: THE last two hours ia
| which have been dying have had more joy
than all the years of my llfe." General
| came into the hoslstal after the battle and
| there we're many seriously wounded, aud
| tnere was one man diving, and the general
| said: "Ah. my dear fellow, you seem very
much wounded. | am afraid you are not
II am not going 10 get well, but
| feel very happy" Oh, ! have seen them,
| and so have you, go out OF this life without a
| tear on their cheek There was weeping all
| round the room, but no weeping in the bed: :
| the cheeks were dry. They were not thrown
| down into darkness, they were lifted up. We
saw the tides rising around them, and the
| swelling OF the wave. 1t washed them off
| from the cares and tolls of life; it washed
them on towards the beach OF Heaven. They
waved to us a farewell kiss as they stood on
| deck. and floated down further and further.
| waited by gales from Heaven, until they were
| lost to our slght-mortality having become
| Immortality
"Life's duty done. as sinks the clay,
Light from its load the spirit flies;
| While Heaven and earth combine to say.
How blest the righteous when he desW
| what high consolation to you that your de-
parted friend, were not submerged in the
| swelling of Jordan. The Israelites were Just as
| thoroughly alive on the western banks OF the
Jordan as they had been on the eastern banks
| of the Jordan; and our departed Christian
| frIende have only crossed over-not sick. not
| dead, not exhausted. not eXtipgiished, not
| blotted out, but with healthier respiration
| and stouter pulses, and keener eyesght, aud
| better prospects. crossed over; their sins.
| their physical and meOtal GIsquiet, all left
| clear this side, an eternahS flowing. imDass-
! able obstacle between them and all human
|
| shake hands OF congrafulatiOn with all the
| bereaved in the consideration that our de-
parted Christian friends are safe!
Why was there wears ago SO much joy in
| certain circles In New York when people
| heard from their friends who were on board
the City Of Brussels? 1t was thought that
| vessel had gone to the bottom Of the sea; and
| when the friends on this side heard that the
steamer mad arrived safely in Liverpool. had
we not the right to congra ulate the people
in New YORK that their friends had got
safely across? And is It not right this morn
ing that | congratulate you that your de-
parted friends are safe on the shore OF
heaven? Would you have them back againY
Would you have those old parents back
again? You know how hard 1t was some
times for them 10 get their breath In
The stihed atmosphere OF the summer;
| this summer Didn't they use
their BRAIN long enough? Would you have
! your children back again9 Would you have
| them take the risk OF oftemptattonB " hich throng
| every human pathway? Would you have them
| cross the Jordan three times in addition TO
crossing II already. and cross 1t agai = to greet
| you now, and then cross back atterWardy for
! certainly you would not want to- keep hem
| forever out of heaven. II they had lived
| forty or fftv years longer. would they have
been safe? Perhaps so, perhaps not,
''Pause and weep, not for the freed from
| pam,
But mat the sigh of love would pull them
| back again"
/ ask question, and there seems to come
| back the answer in heaven =
| ly echo: ''what! will you
| never be sick again?" "Never-sick-again'' -
"What! will you never be tired again?"
| "Never- r-tired-again." "What! will you
never weep again?" "Neyer-weep-again :"
"what! will you never die again?" Never
! die--again." Oh, ye army OF departed kin
| dred. we hail you from bank to bank! Wait
| for US when the Jordan OF death shall pare
for us. Come down and meet us half way
/ between the widowed banks ofearth and the
palm groves OF heaven.
| "On Jordan's stormy banks stand,
| And cast wlssful eye
| To Canaan's fair and happy land,
| Where my possessions lie.
| o. the transporting, rapturous scene
| That rises ON my sightl
Sweet fields arrayed in living green,
| Aud rivers OF delight"
But thero is one step still In advance sug-
| gested by this subject. IL this religion of
Christ Is important in life, and so I'M
/ portant' IN the last hours OF life. how much
| more important it viii be in the great
eternity. I need not stand here and argue it